Marie Callender’s began in the 1930’s when Marie Callender and her husband Cal, found it difficult to make ends meet. Marie began making pies and had her son, Don deliver them on his bicycle. Don Callender began selling his mother’s pies wholesale to restaurants in Orange County, California.
The first restaurant opened in 1948 and Don named it after his mother.
Today, Marie Callender’s has 74 locations, mostly in California, and a few locations in Mexico. The company offers mostly American cuisine, an extensive salad bar, and pies to be eaten at the restaurant or pies can be purchased at the front counter to go.
The company is also well-known for offering favorite meals and pies frozen in most major grocery stores.
The company filed for bankruptcy in June of 2011 and abruptly closed 31 low-performing locations. Bankruptcy proceedings finished under the control of Wayzata Investments Partners.
In February 2021, the company announced that it would need to raise prices due to the increase in wholesale prices of staples such as wheat and sugar.
Marie Callender’s maintains a corporate office in Mision Viejo, California.
Marie Callender’s began in the 1930’s when Marie Callender and her husband Cal, found it difficult to make ends meet. Marie began making pies and had her son, Don deliver them on his bicycle. Don Callender began selling his mother’s pies wholesale to restaurants in Orange County, California.
History
The first restaurant opened in 1948 and Don named it after his mother.
Today, Marie Callender’s has 74 locations, mostly in California, and a few locations in Mexico. The company offers mostly American cuisine, an extensive salad bar, and pies to be eaten at the restaurant or pies can be purchased at the front counter to go.
The company is also well-known for offering favorite meals and pies frozen in most major grocery stores.
The company filed for bankruptcy in June of 2011 and abruptly closed 31 low-performing locations. Bankruptcy proceedings finished under the control of Wayzata Investments Partners.
In February 2021, the company announced that it would need to raise prices due to the increase in wholesale prices of staples such as wheat and sugar.
Marie Callender’s maintains a corporate office in Mision Viejo, California.
I’ve wanted to write this note since 2004! When my parents died in Seattle Washington, I went out there to clean out their house. I don’t know how long their freezer was broken but everything was discussing, all foods spoiled and rotten except Marie Callender’s! So many preservatives in those pot pies that they looked like they were just made! Discussing.
If you have a complaint with Marie Callender you’re not going to be able to get the message out there to them. Their phone number does not work their email does not work. I got so tired of all the complaints maybe if they do something right it wouldn’t have the complaints. Put it out in the public area everywhere but everybody know about Marie Callender no phones work no email is work so you can’t file complaint.
thanks for letting us know that the site was out of date. We have updated the listing
Bought 2 beef pot pies, there was no potatoes, carrots, or peas in them what a waste. I even saved the bar codes so that I could get my money back. but I do not know to who, or where I should go to get it. My advice to all the people out there is to not buy them.
We have enjoyed your pies and pie crust for years. One thing that needs to be changed is the Non-baked pie crust or cream pies crust. We love the the baked pie crust, but we don’t care for the crust on the non-bake or cream pies. Can you please cook the crust or cook it more before filling them. Otherwise, we leave the crust behind and eat the filling on the non-bake pies. You Can Do Better !!!
I just had one of your beef pot pie’s and guess what?, no beef in sight. Just a few carrots and potatoes. I am very disappointed. Up until now, i had enjoyed your food.
I have tried calling 3 times and the phone number does not seem to be working so I am emailing you.
Last night Feb 24, 2021 I placed an online order at the Modesto restaurant. It said the food would be ready for pickup in 25 min. We arrived on time and went in to pick up the food. There were multiple people in line and in the waiting room. All were trying to maintain a distance from each other. That put us waiting in the small entry way between the outdoors and lobby. 2 employees walked in, both with no mask on. One asked my husband why he was standing there. He explained he was in line but didn’t want to crowd the couple ahead of him. She literally looked at him and laughed. Once inside, we observed 4 people, her being one, in the kitchen, laughing and talking.. no masks. She didn’t put her mask on until getting to the register. We then observed her telling a customer that if he really didn’t pay the extra money for cream on his pie last time, he stole from them. Several people in the lobby had shocked looks when she said that.
Finally, after 25 min of waiting another woman, who pulled up mask as she walked out with our food, called out for online order. I walked up and asked why it had taken so long, she looked at me, said “is this your food?” And walked away. She completely ignored my question, any sort of apology for it being so late, and just disappeared into the back.
It took 55 min from the time we ordered till the time we got our food. We got home and the one item was wrong. We had ordered onion rings with side of ranch. We got French fries with no ranch. The 3 soups were cold in the middle. Not cool all over from sitting too long. Actual sections that were cold, surrounded by warm soup.
Both my husband and I were shocked at the rude behavior of 2 employees. Were uncomfortable and upset with multiple employees not following mask safety and being around our food, and very disappointed with the quality of the food.
We have loved Mare Calendars food for years, but if this is how restaurants are going to treat customers, we will not be going back.
Those are all the signs of restaurant, that will soon be going out of business
Well one you really need stop freaking over about the mask. Mask do not protect. Proven fact. Neither do the vaccine because no vaccine has ever stop the flu or anything. The government has lied to you all this time about what the hell is really going on. A true fact are being disbarred they won’t let them publish it. It is coming out in our area. Bottom line is the vaccine are actually for depopulation. There’s a lot of proof of people who was even working on some of them not the time heading up getting fired because they brought the truth out about what it was. The CDC the government all have lied to everyone. That magic is not going to save you. As a matter of fact it is going to do more harm than good. Now ask for the restaurant I would have asked her if she seen the manager immediately and I would have raised one helluva Ruckus inside there to get their attention everyone’s attention and a manager out there ASAP. I never would have taken it home I would have done set stuff right then and there on the spot about those people. And I wouldn’t let her go until so she answered my question.
Wow, that’s a pretty scary number of complaints! I understand at the present time (early Feb 2021) all your restaurants have closed, perhaps a combination of the complaints and then the CoV 2 arrived? Anyway, just wanted to share a minor complaint about the limited chicken in an otherwise tasty frozen dish (Roasted Garlic Chicken Bowl) which I described to your call-in number. The worker was very nice and took down my comments and offered a coupon. Excellent customer service!! Will still buy your frozen dinners
I eat a lot of your pot pies and have no problems. I bought two beef pot pies and both had beef that could not be chewed. I’ve never had this problem with turkey and chicken. It was like grizzle!! Not happy!!
I brought a Marie callender pie for a family memorial dead in the family’ to have for dessert but when I cut it and served it my sister got a piece of metal in her throat and almost swallow it omg it was horrible omg unsafe product I think that you should check your plant out more often so what’ are you suggestion that you should do to make this right omg. Not safety control metal a big piece was in the piece I have it here at home luckly she didn’t swallow it and choke or caused death omg safety in your plant omg you don’t care terrible service
I’m disappointed in all of your products. Why have you changed all of your recipes? I have been a loyal customer for years and know that you have changed the look, the ingredients, the worst pie crust ever. Your chicken pot pies, I’m sure the chicken isn’t real, tastes like fat cubes. I could go on & on.
Judging from the other complaints, no one at you company cares, because your products are going down & price is going up!
Over the past year or so, I noticed the amount of food in your frozen Turkey dinner has declined from 14 oz to 11.5 oz, but the calories have remained the same. Can you explain that?
I noticed a significant reduction of turkey and an increase in gravy. In fact, the entire dinner after microwaving is rather soupy because of all the gravy.
For someone always watching my calories, your lower calorie dinners always beat out others in flavor, but very disappointed in what you have done with the turkey and beef dinners. You should lower the salt content, too.
Recently we purchased two of your large Beef Pot Pies for quick dinner. Have had them in the past and they were pretty good. This time they were so bad, we couldn’t even finish them. There was NO GRAVY in them to speak of. They were real, real dry.
We purchased one of your frozen dinners and was EXTREMELY disappointed.
“Slow Roasted Tender Beef w/creamy mashed potatoes & vegetables in Savory Gravy.”
The meat was tough and stingy and potatoes were NOT mashed but looked like large
kernels of rice swimming in water, combined with what was supposed to be gravy.
The veggies were thankfully NOT IN “SAVORY GRAVY”!!!!!
What has happened to your company? Sooo very disappointed-not up to par for
what “used to be”
My huband love your mogolian beef frozon dinner but we can find them and he is very unhappy. Do knoe hoe we can get them
I’m a regular at Marie Callender’s restaurant I’ve had such terrible experiences with the waitress they hire. No refills I’ve also had one that told me not to complaint because I was sitting for 10 minutes. This restaurant needs to be check on . I’m not going there anymore. I was there about 3 days ago.
We have been buying your turkey w/stuffing and Country Fried Chicken & Gravy
at Walmart in Rice Lake, Wi now the Walmarts in these area ( my Zip code is 54835) are not carrying these dinners any longer. Is there a way we can buy these dinners and have them shipped to us?
Thanks
What do with my gift card now that all the Marie Callenders have left my area. Atwater Ca 95301
I purchased a blue berry pie.
#5446 826210 08:09.
I am very disappointed in it. Very few blueberries but lots of filling. Had to throw it away. I have had your pies before an they were loaded with fruit.. No value for my money.
Bought pecan pie to serve at Easter. Filling was liquid. No dessert to serve guests. Expected a perfect pie.
Hello,
I buy at least one of your frozen products a week
Today I had your Roasted Turkey and Stuffing.
Why on earth are you producing this slop? Why???
Too much salt, 3/4 cup of white, slop, a little turkey.
Why on earth do you spend the time to produce this slop?
Don’t believe me? Have one for lunch, then write me back and tell me what you think.
Thank You,
Laura Nichols – Seattle
Dear Marie Callenders:
This past week I purchased 2 Coconut Cream Frozen pies. I notice the box has changed and is smaller. I also noted that both pies were smaller, less filling and a huge amount of crust. I have buying your pies for a long time and am very disappointed. Now I’m paying the same and getting much less for my money. I had to throw away more than half of the crust just because that amount was impossible to eat.
May I offer a suggestion? Why not go back to the awesome pies you were making and charge a $1.00 more. That would be a better way to recover your loss. The only reason I could come up with for your quality and size to go downhill is you were losing money. At this rate you will also be losing customers.
A huge disappointment.
Sincerely,
Sherri Princell
(317) 586-XXXX
Gibsonville, NC 27249
I am so disappointed in your single serve frozen dinners as I have complained about before. Something has happened to the quality of your food and your frozen dinners and especially the chicken teriyaki and sesame chicken bowls that went up in price from $2.14 to $2.50 with no big difference in weight. That is a big jump for us seniors to pay for the same or less quality but with a redesigned package or Bowl with no apparent reason for Price hike. I will no longer buy your products and instead will go for Stouffer’s or Boston Market with a more reasonable price and the same weight. Hopefully you can reevaluate your quality of your products and pricing and I may return to buying your products again in the future. Roger Welch. 843-444-XXXX.
dwightdudley@ ccsouthbay.org
The torrance store needs to be shut down, cleaned up, remove Cobb Webb’s from light fixtures. Retrain staff, get some real cooks. Go shopping for food so you have the food that’s on your menu.
Not good a place to eat, I would not be surprised if someone was poisoned there. No pot pies at 6pm so I had beef stroganoff, it was not very good the waitress told another table that the stroganoff wasn’t good, they also wanted the pot pie, the 3 of them got up and walked out, they made the right choice. It took over 30 minutes to have our order taken we were not in a hurry after eating I wondered why my wife and I stayed. Not good did not get my money’s worth for sure. Close it before they ruin your good name and reputation
I tried to up load the picture of the dinner we bought yesterday and could not. It was a sad mess.
It was slow roasted beef. The potato was soup and there were 2 small pieces of beef. What a shame. Marie’s used to be good. Not now. Done
For what it’s worth I purchased a Marie Cllender POT PIE (CHICKEN) large size (~$10.00 & change @ a Kroger grocery store in Hebron KY 41048 today for my sister who I take lunch / supper every Saturday (she has some issues a bit older and larger than I) anyway she likes chicken pot pies/KFC. She doesn’t recall having a Marie C. one before and I was bragging how great it is. Hell long story short she said how good it was until she found a black hair (~2″ long) , ENDED UP GOING TO KFC.
Well I felt 2″s tall when she FOUND THE DARN THING.
PS: WHAT LITTLE HAIR I HAVE IS GREY AND HAS BEEN FOR ~10 YRS
WELL THAT MY B**CH SESSION, NO I’M STILL ANGRY YA LET ME DOWN
Thanks for your time, J W.
I’m eating a steak and roasted potatoes dinner. It smells very spoiled like the meat maybe rotten. I’ve eaten many of the Marie callender frozen dinners and I’ve never come across one that smelled like this. I eat at least three dinners per week due to the number of days I work every week. I’m actually scared to eat it because of the smell. I hope this won’t happen to me again in the future. And I’m hoping you will compensate me for my expense. I’m very disappointed and hope you will help.
Thank you very much. Andrea Demings. 313-371-XXXX. Addr. Det.,Mi.48213
Was at the Katella Marie calendars last night and the one of the specialty burgers patty was cooked on both sided but cold inside. How can you serve a hamburger like that? The sourdough bread was soggy and not very appetizing needless to say this was a horrible dinner.m When we got our free pic slices home to eat we found that the coconut cream pie was very loose and not very appetizing.
The food quality at Marie Calendars had fallen way off lately, and its sad because they used to be a nice place to eat and their pies also the best, guess I will be looking for a new
PIE” place to go to.
meat pies, dinners too salty, dumplings hard and dry.
Made reservations for 8 for easter brunch on 4/1/2018 I arrived at 11 am. I specifically asked for the easter brunch. The hostess set us up at the bar on the other side of the restaurant. The manager told me there is no more room, Please I beg you do a surprise visit to your restaurant the young hostess working was the rudest I have ever seen so inexperienced in customer service. You lost me as a customer, and I predict you will lose more. People want friendly service, clean restaurant, and good food. I can’t comment on the food because we left. It was the worse experience I have ever had. Extremely dissapointed. Marie calendars at blossom hill road in san jose ca.
Purchased a turkey dinner and was so disappointed ! It was horrible, no flavor at all and the portion was extremely small. I am on a strict budget and I feel that it was a total waste of money. I have purchased other Marie Callenders products in the past but no longer .
I have been eating Marie Callender’s three meat lasanga for several years and I love it. However, I was truly surprised when I cooked my last one. It was almost entirely pasta. It had very little sauce and the cheese was practically non-existant. As I was preparing for guests, I had to rush to the store to buy another one. Luckily, that one was perfectly wonderful. my guests didn’t know I added all the pasta from the first batch for a very hardy dish.
My husband and I stopped in Redding, CA. August 25th.We had dinner at 1987 Hilltop Drive.
6:29 p.m. Sun was shining in the windows, so the dust and fingerprints were all over
the pie cases.All fruit pies gone. This location must old. Needs paint, rug is quite soiled, tables need to be replaced,need sanding and re-varnished. Tables were sticky. Quite a few dirty tables, maybe it was shift change. Salad bar was sad. I guess I was expecting Sizzler salad bar. Sorry to say we will not go back.
Hi,
I need to speak to someone at Marie Callender who is in charge of marketing. My son had an awesome experience with your products and we wanted you to know. He lost 130 lbs with your frozen foods and although your products are not marketed for specific wt loss, it was the portion control that has successfully controlled his diet for the 8 mos project. He wants the world to know that your products can also benefit the overweight population which is an aspect that you may have not considered. We have photos of before and after the adventure began….please contact me by email. above…This may be be a new avenue for marketing for frozen dinners. Please put us in touch with your executives. He lives nearby in San Diego. Thank you. Sherryl Major
We have lived in South San Jose, California since 1971 and have enjoyed the local Marie Calendars for many years. However, we have not been happy with our experiece the past few years. Last night four of us had dinner and none of us left the restaurant feeling satisfied, as the food was very salty and did not appear fresh. Our vegetables were sad looking, the turkey dinner was very salty and so was the pot roast and meatloaf. The best part of the dinner was the pie. We love having Marie’s around the corner and hope there can be some improvement in the food and maybe some update to the interior and added care to the outside of the building. I might say the service was good and our waiter was friendly. I suggest you try some of the food you serve to get a better feel for what I’m talking about.
I would like to know your policy on an on-line discount coupon that I printed out.
I recently ate at 820 S Baldwin Ave, Arcadia, CA 91007. It was a party of four. Two in our party ordered the two for $30 menu. When I received the bill, I noticed the discount coupon was not applied to the two for $30 order. When I questioned this, I was told the discount coupon is not offered to a discounted offer as the two for $30 offer is already discounted.
Please let me know if this is the case so I will know in the future and not question the server. Thank you.
I hope I’m sending this to the right place. First, I want to tell you that I love your dinners. I’ve had just about all of them. I have a complaint about your dinners. Tonight I had chicken and noodles with a apple desert. Well, there were no apples. Someone put a palm full of noodles in a corner with some crunchy stuff on top of it. It was very dry and awful! This is the 2nd time this happened. I’ve had other chicken dinners which had a couple of pieces of chicken in it. There has been some other things missing in other dinners but I can’t remember what. I didn’t think it would come to this and I’m sorry! I’ve been getting your dinners and desserts for a long time, I would hate to stop eating them. So please improve them!!
Thanks!! Lisa
On January 7, 2017 I took my wife and eldest daughter to Marie Calendars located at 2149 E. Convention Way, Ontario CA 91764. It was the worst experience and embarrassment for me and my family. This is how the events went:
We arrived at approx. 730pm and waited in the lobby which maybe only had one family of three ahead of us. It took approximately thirty minutes to be called, but I figured they were busy since when we walked in they told us it was about a 25 minute wait. As we were escorted to our table I noticed several empty tables and it felt like they were making every effort to keep guests in one central area which I could understand. We were given our drinks which consisted of water and then we were told our server would be with us shortly. It was another 15 minutes sipping on water before out server (name I can not recall, but was an old tall White Female Adult). She took our order that consisted of the 2 for $30 and one fancy Frisco Burger and one appetizer. We waited for an additional 15 minutes just sitting there waiting for our appetizer that was nowhere in sight. At the breaking point that I was going to tell my family to get up so we could leave our server brought us corn bread with butter and she began to apologize and then began to tell us how much of a long day she had working her long shift, which I did not really care for. Our server made several unsuccessful attempts to be funny, but she was not. We continued waiting and our server brought us more bread at which time I asked for additional napkins, but she just yeah-ed me and began going to other tables forgetting my request. A Hispanic Male Adult server accompanied by a Female Hispanic Adult who was being trained came to our table and refilled our waters at which time I asked hi for more napkins, but just like our server he just yeah-ed me and continued on his way going to other tables. My family and I calculated that we had been waiting to eat for over an hour since the time we had originally walked in the restaurant. Our appetizer finally came and it was brought by another Hispanic Male employee who I never saw, but I figured our server was probably busy. The appetizer was good and then we waited again, but we were being amused by our server who kept apologizing to the table in front of us about how they had run out of certain foods they were requesting. During the refill of our waters again I asked for napkins again and they finally got to our table after our server attended to two other tables. After waiting and waiting for our food which was now almost 9’o clock it finally arrived at our table and it was brought by the same Hispanic Male that gave us our appetizer. Not sure if this guy was the cook and food server, but it was just weird since our server did not appear to be busy but just hanging out with other employees in the room where they get drinks. My wife and daughter got the Chicken Alfredo which did not look appealing. The noodles were dry and appeared over cooked, broccoli was cold and hard and the alfredo sauce was watery. My Frisco Burger looked good in appearance,but tasted dry and salty, I could only eat one. While we were attempting to make the best of this horrible experience, I noticed a table across from us had order the same Frisco Burger, but only took two bites and could not eat it. He told his server it was awful. As we where finish our food we observed a heavy set family being escorted to a table/booth and they just stood there looking at the table and wondering how they were going to squeeze in. Finally they requested to be sat a table. I could imagine how embarrassed they were, the employee should’ve had enough common since that they would not fit.
The service really sucked bad and the caliber of employees sucked also, I understand that finding employees willing to work is hard, but there should be some kind of professional appearance, not letting employees wear nose rings. We received our bill which was approx. $50 and I gave the server our gift card we received and told her that I did not need change and I would wait to make sure everything was okay with the gift card. Our server did her thing began to walked towards our table then stopped at the table in front of us and began a conversation ignoring that we were waiting for our receipt or at least the okay that everything was okay with the bill. My wife and I looked at each other and said forget this, lets leave, as soon as we got up our SERVER that the nerve to make a joke saying “Oh look you guys are really short people” because she was tall, what pissed me off the most was that the table in front of us began to laugh loudly. I will never go to another Marie Calendars again. I expected more from Marie Calendars since it gives the impression that it is a family restaurant “What a joke”
Christmas was the first time in quite a while that I bought pies. They were absolutely disgusting. Everyone at our gathering was scraping off the crust. What has happened to your famous pies? They are definitely smaller, crust horrible. I would rather buy my pies at Sam’s Club or Costco than spend the kind of money that is charged for your pies. In talking to several of my friends they felt he same way. Too bad used to look forward to your pies.